
After Germany coach Joachim Löw gave his players a couple of days off after Friday's final pre-tournament friendly against Saudi Arabia (2-1) at the BayArena, the 'Mannschaft' met up at the DFB headquarters in Frankfurt. Julian Brandt and Co. all set off from there. The team are due to land in Moscow in the early evening before heading off to the Germany HQ in Vatutinki some 40 kilometres south-west of the Russian capital. The Werkself defender Tin Jedvaj has been in Russia with the Croatia squad since Monday. Their first group match is on Saturday (16 June, 21.00 CET) against Nigeria.
Bayer 04 won the DFB Cup for the first time in the club's history 25 years ago today. The Werkself beat the Hertha Berlin Reserves 1-0 in front of 76,391 fans at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin thanks to a header from Ulf Kirsten. To celebrate the occasion, the club has organised an event this Tuesday evening (12 June) at the fitting time of 19.04 CET for fans and former players from the cup winning team at the 19 zero four Lounge in the West Stand at the BayArena. Former members of the squad from 1993 attending include players Rüdiger Vollborn, Andreas Thom, Christian Wörns, Markus Happe and Markus von Ahlen plus coach Dragoslav Stepanovic.
Thanks to his impressive performances last season, Leon Bailey was almost able to look forward to another award. In a survey held by the kicker sports magazine, where 70,000 readers voted for the 'Golden K', the Werkself number nine came third with 8.7% behind James Rodruigez (15.7 %) and Thomas Müller (9.2 %) of the German champions Bayern Munich.


Former Bundesliga and Germany keeper Manfred Manglitz, who was promoted to the Oberliga West with Bayer 04 in 1962, passed away on Monday at the age of 86.
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The FIFA World Cup 2026 in the USA, Canada and Mexico is underway. A total of eight Leverkusen players are taking part in the 23rd World Cup, with 48 teams in the tournament for the first time. Bayer04.de brings you all the latest from Werkself players at the World Cup.
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Following the summer break of around two months, the Bayer 04 first team squad took to the training pitches at the BayArena for the first time on Tuesday – and the players were in high spirits. Alongside the newly formed coaching team led by head coach Carles Martínez, new signing Afonso Moreira also completed his first session with the squad. In front of several hundred Bayer 04 fans at the open session, numerous Werkself players worked up a good sweat. The Leverkusen players who took part in the World Cup will join pre-season training at a later date.
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In mid-August, the Werkself will set off on a four-day trip to England to play their final two friendly matches of the 2026/27 pre-season against Premier League clubs Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United. The match in Nottingham against the Tricky Trees is on Wednesday 12 August at 20:45 CEST (19:45 BST) at the City Ground. The game against the Magpies in Newcastle is on Saturday 15 August at 16:00 CEST (15:00 BST) at the atmospheric St James’ Park. Details on ticket sales for both matches.
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